The use of specific receptors for immunoaffinity purification, or immunoaffinity purification of such receptors from complex mixtures has found extensive applications, particularly in the biopharmaceutical field. In this field, one has been interested in purifying a wide variety of biological compounds from the media in which they are present. These media may be extracts of naturally occurring prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells or supernatants from artificially cultured cells that contain secreted products. These compounds are for the most part water soluble at the concentration of interest. Purification methods are normally based on the specific recognition by a protein immobilized on a solid base, of a protein or non-proteinaceous analyte, where the binding of the protein receptor and its complementary ligand normally occurs in an aqueous medium.
In many situations, there may be an interest in separating ligands from non-aqueous media. One may wish to extract a hydrophobic compound from a specimen such as soil, fat, oil, or the like, where it would be desirable to retain the extracted compound in a non-aqueous medium. There is, therefore, substantial interest in being able to develop specific immunoadsorption affinity purification methods which allow the use of non-aqueous solvents.